Lighting for Off-Season Chicks

[ChickyCh00k]

@Ridgerunner - thank you for that very thorough and thoughtful response! I think it's possible that maybe some research on this topic is relating to commercial poultry. However, I don't think Gail Damerow's books are geared toward that industry. I think her material is very much written with the backyard chicken keeper in mind.

I'm guessing the overall idea is that chicks hatched in Spring are maturing and coming into lay as daylight hours are getting shorter (late summer, early fall), whereas chicks hatched in the fall are maturing as daylight hours are getting longer (for my chicks it will be like sometime between mid- Feb to mid-March), so it's backwards, thus the need to correct the lighting in order to avoid reproductive problems.

Maybe it just doesn't matter in backyard flocks, but I'm struggling with why it's mentioned in these books at all if that's the case.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't think Gail Damerow's books are geared toward that industry. I think her material is very much written with the backyard chicken keeper in mind.

But a lot of the research she used came from the commercial industry. We all do that because a lot of the time that's the only resource we have.

If you want to try to follow that please go for it. I personally don't think it is necessary and I don't follow it. I have not seen any problems with my flock that I can attribute to that.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Ah, I see! Well, it seems as though no one has noticed any of the negative issues mentioned from NOT following this supplemental light schedule, so perhaps it's just an extra (maybe unnecessary) precaution. I do appreciate your feedback!!

 

[OakR]

Hello @ChickyCh00k - I am in a similar position of now having a chick (well hopefully more than 1) I will need to raise over winter and debating whether to do it indoors with additional light or outdoors with the broody but no additional light (it doesn't get too cold where I am). Thank you.

Did you end up providing additional light, and if not did you notice any issues?

Thank you!

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Hello @ChickyCh00k - I am in a similar position of now having a chick (well hopefully more than 1) I will need to raise over winter and debating whether to do it indoors with additional light or outdoors with the broody but no additional light (it doesn't get too cold where I am). Thank you.

Did you end up providing additional light, and if not did you notice any issues?

Thank you!

Hi there!

I ended up supplementing light while they were in the brooder (until 5.5 weeks) and when I moved them to the coop, I also supplemented the light (because my coop is inside the covered run and doesn't get much natural light in fall/ winter).

I tried to mimic what the lighting would be like if they hatched in spring, so I had them at about 14-15 hr of total light/day to start (artificial + natural) - always making sure the artificial light was turned off before sunset, so the chicks were going into darkness naturally. I decreased the artificial light in the a.m by about 30 minutes each week until they were moved to the coop, then I used a timer to keep the total light around 10 hr/day until they reached 16 weeks (this was recommended by my state poultry extension). At that point, the light was gradually increasing (after winter solstice), so I also began to gradually increase the light in the coop/run by 1 hr each week until they were back up to 14-16 hours. My first egg was laid by a hen just over 18 weeks and the others followed suit over the next 3-4 weeks (all barred rocks and buff orpingtons).

It seems really complicated when I type it all out, but it really wasn't, lol. My girls have not had any reproductive health complications thus far.

 

[OakR]

Thank you very much @ChickyCh00k , this is really helpful.